The Second Chapter
The Second Chapter continues from Ghosts of Syrellia, where Syrellians discover that their humble little city had not-so-humble origins after all. But is it for better or for worse? Because it seems that someone seems to be watching them, and has started to move against Syrellia. The President himself suddenly begins sending messages to the Syrellia leaders about his return, after years of absence and silence. The Syrellians are suspicious...and not without good reason. Episode Six: Standing Down The first thing the President has requested the Syrellians do is pull out all its troops from surrounding cities to reinforce the security around Syrellia itself, in preparations for his return. He does not give any explanation for this, but the Syrellians do it, very silently side-eyeing this decision. Rain of Gold While the leaders discuss the situation privately, an abrupt shower of golden seeds surprises the Syrellians. Because of the leaders' matters, they have delegated the task of collecting these seeds to the Syrellians, who put them aside to keep them in a safe place. Mostly to protect themselves rather than to protect the seeds. Sky Delivery The first new Annual event, Sky Delivery replaces Winter's Fall as a lighthearted citywide event where Syrellians try to find ways to send Morraia flowers to the dead and the spirits in the Astral Planes as the spring breeze showers the city with them. At this point, showers that don't actually involve rain are getting a little odd, but never mind. Odder things have happened. At least this one is natural. Episode Seven: The Clock Tower of Erymanthos While the Syrellians were distracted by the Morraia flowers, the golden seeds silently vanish...to shower back down onto the city. This time, however, they plant themselves into the ground, forcing their way into the soil before sprouting clock towers of gold and glass around the city. The leaders are warped into an alternate dimension of Syrellia while time stops for the entire city through portals that deactivate afterwards, sealing the leaders' only exit. The Syrellians scramble to save their respective faction leaders before it is too late by finding the leaders' "timeless" items that would counter the time spell and break it. Once they use these items, the portals that deactivated would reactivate and allow the leaders to get back in. The Syrellians succeed within a few days, but with a bittersweet ending - while they managed to restore the city, they only saved two out of the three leaders. Chapter Unlocker: The Emperor Still shaken after the Clock Tower of Erymanthos event, the leaders get a surprise visit from none other than Illegan Marfath, Emperor of Faros, accompanied by Viceroy Amara Neferset. Here they find out that Faros and Melssentenia were Twin Empires divided by greed for power, with Melssentenia earning a curse from the Oblivion demon warlord Zennebar after its Emperor foolishly makes a deal with the demon. Ever since then, Faros has been attempting to break the curse, but because they had to do it alone and Melssentenia drifted away from its twin it eventually backfired on Faros, turning the Farosians into what they are today. After dealing with the mess, the Farosians returned with a renewed vengeance, but all efforts were in vain. As a last ditch resort, Faros declared war on Melssentenia with a heavy heart, the plan being to destroy Melssentenia and therefore break the curse. Unfortunately, even though Faros won, the curse still existed. The curse was that Zennebar would eventually return to take what was rightfully his - the Melssentenia Empire, now Republic. If he succeeded, Syrellia would be consumed by Oblivion, all its souls claimed and Zennebar would have a base in Litvantar to attack other nations. Despite the fact that he was suffering from a chronic illness that was inheritable through his family, Emperor Illegan Marfath offered to help Syrellia. Neither Melssentenia or Faros could defeat Zennebar alone, but the Farosians were certain that the Twin Empire connection was still there. Perhaps with Faros and Melssentenia working together, not to mention Faros' nether magic, could they defeat Zennebar. The Syrellians, if reluctantly, accepted the help of Faros. And with that, the Farosian troops have begun to transport resources and weaponry into the Republic as well as bringing in the Faros sorcerers. Will Syrellia be able to break the curse with Faros' help? Only time will tell. Genderbender: Svengaran's Return Svengaran's return to Syrellia could be either seen as a form of relief to the citizens or a trivial matter being brought up while a war was looming in the distance. Either way, the Syrellians also weren't too amused by this prank, but they were more or less either getting used to it or just ignoring it. It still made for some fun. And Svengaran left happy, so we can probably be assured he won't come back for the rest of the time. Episode Eight: Preparations With the Farosian troops moving in, the Syrellians have been left to their own devices to get ready for the war. A personal moment to reflect on what was happening, and what was to come. And why they were fighting. Episode Nine: The Heist With the preparations ready, the Syrellians have discovered that there is no way they can directly assault Lord Zennebar, not even with Faros as an ally. The demon warlord is far too powerful. However, a discovery made by Nessair Kerre, the city's Principle Shaman, has revealed that the Farosians' nethershields have combined with the magic of the earth. With his power and Marfath's skill with nether magic combined, they had another chance - to freeze Zennebar's army and have the Syrellians steal the contract crystal. However, Marfath's state of health and the fact that they had to keep channelling the magic meant that the leaders would be guarding both Nessair and Illegan. That left the Syrellians to their own devices, and now they must carry out the heist on their own. Episode Ten: The Siege It is now up to Neferset to destroy the contract crystal with her power. Due to the strain of the magic casting, Emperor Marfath collapsed out of exhaustion and is in a critical state as his illness assaults him once again. Not only is Faros' most powerful sorcerer out of the way, but Lord Zennebar is free. This time, he will now assault the city itself with his forces. The Syrellians must now hold the line and buy Neferset time to destroy the crystal - just as she had helped buy the Syrellians time during the heist. Epilogue: ???